Railway-track truss.



D. FINKELSTEIN.

RAILWAY TRACK TRUSS.

APPLICATION man MAY a, 1917.

mmgh Patented Ju1y17,1917.

DAVID FINKEL'STEIN, `or NEW YORK, n. Y.

` RAILWAY-TRACK TRUSS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

raten-tea' .hay it, lait.

Application filed May l3, 1917. Serial No. 166,119.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known` that I, DAVID FINKELSTEiN, a citizen of the United States,and resident of the city of New York, borough of the Bronx, county ofBronx, and State of New York, have invented a new and ImprovedRailway-Track rlruss, of which the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription.

This invention relates to a railway track construction and hasparticular reference to means for supporting railway rails. y

Among the objects of the invention is to provide supporting means forrailway rails of such a nature as to reduce to a minimum (l) thedeflection in. therails laterally as well asv up or down, therebyproducing Aa stiffer track; (2) the creeping of rails because of thedecrease in the wave motion; (3) the cost of track construction, becauseof the fact that less depth of ballast is required to distribute thewheel loads to the subgrade; (4:) the cost of track maintenance` becauseresurfacing, and renewals of rails and ties will be less frequentlyrequired due to the stiffer track, better rail joints and bettersupported ties; and (5) ythe wear and tear on the rolling stock,`because of a smoother riding track. Another object of the invention isto provide a railway rail supporting means of-such a `nature thatl thedanger of derailment will either be prevented or lessened, suchoccurrences resulting under the old practice largely. from the spreadingof the rails and bad road bed which `should `not occur with myimprovementin use.

Another objectV of the invention is tol provide a better distribution ofthe wheel loads and the supporting power of the track structure whichwill tend to prevent damage to or failure of culverts. My constructionfur-4 thermore being of a nature tending to prevent all deflection ofthetrack rails in every direction will practically prevent the heave ing ofthe trackdue `to frost or the effect of great extremesof heat and cold.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a truss forrailway tracks calculated to prevent all looseness of ties or damage toties which is likely ,to result from crushing, spike killing, or cuttingby the tie plate or rail. A y i y lA still further object of theinvention is to alleviate, or reduce to a minimum, Ytrouble due tofaulty rail joints and hence the noise incident to loose joints will'beeliminated. n

still for the purpose of illustrating a practical embodiment thereof'reference is had to the accompanying drawings, in which like referencecharacters designate the same parts 'in the several views, and in which-Figure l is a side elevation of a fragment of a railway track showing mylmprovement.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same on a smaller scale; and

Fig. 8 is a vertical transverse sectional detail on the line 3 3 of Figl; and

Fig 4: is a vertical sectional detail on the line l-t of Fig. 3. 1 y

Referring now more particularly to the drawings I show my improvedrailway track truss assembled in connection with any usual orconventional form of rails R and cross ties l0. I prefer to use woodenties not only because of greater cheapness, but becauseof their superiorqualities when connected or anchored as they are by my improved truss.By my improvement I am able to construct a road bed having suitablestrength or wear resisting qualities but still employing ties ofordinary or even inferiorany suitable relative lengths, but 4areprefer-V ably coextensive in length longitudinally of the track, andmayA also be regarded as continuous as distinguished from short bracesthat pertain only to individual ties.` The strap` 1l lies across the topof each tie and directly beneath the rail. That portion of the strap lllying between the railand the tie may constitute a tie plate 13 of anysuit` able length or'width, but serving to take the placev of the usual,more or less troublesome,

separateltie plate. These `tie plates 13 are preferably 'formed integralwith the 'strap 11, but as to this detail of construction as well asother details I do not propose to be unnecessarily restricted inpractice. That portion of the strap 11 between each two'adjacent ties isdeflected downwardly as indicated at 11 to about the horizontal plane of.V the centers ofthe ties where there is formed a flat section 14having a vertical hole therethrough. The inclined portions of the strapbetween the flat section 14 and the plates 13 are preferably straightand hence possess maximum stiffness and strength.

The strap 12 in side view approximates the form of the strap 11 but liesbeneath all ofthe ties directly below the rail and upper strap 11 and isdeflected upwardly at 12 between each two adjacent ties. The ytop of thedeflected portion is indicated `at 15 and lying 'flat against the flatportion 14, it being provided with a holetherethrough registering with`the hole in the flat part 14 through which' a strong fastening dev-iceof any suitable nature but indicated as a bolt 16, with threaded nut 17,passes, constituting asuitable 'locking means from one strap to theother inthe space 'between adjacent ties.

The straps 11 and 12a-re made of any-suitable metal of sufliciently goodquality and weight for'the purpose intended and may be secured to thevties in any suitable manner. Preferably, however, the Ilower strap 12requires no Vspecial or direct attachmentimeans to 4the ties.

The tieplates 13 in the formof the 'invention disclosed hereinconstitute means for Ysecuring the top strap and ties toone another.

`Each tie plate lisshown provided with a pair of holes 18 at its innercorners and vwith a central outwardly projecting lug 19 having a centralhole 20. The corners of the plate adjacent'to the lug 1 9 are bentupwardly and inwardly toward the rail forming hooks 21 which engagefirmly overthe outer edge of the'rail'base flange 22. Any suitablefasteningfspikes, preferably screw spikes 23, may be employed to passthrough the holes 18 and 20'tolock the'tie plateszto the ties,

Theouter edges of the baseflanges 22 of the rails being locked beneaththe hooks 21 the inner edges of the same flanges vmay be lockedto theinnerends ofthe tie plates by any suitable means, butfor this purposeVas set forth herein I propose to employ a series fkeepers 24 each havinga fiat portion with a'hole're'g'istering with one of the holes V18 andthrough which a `special 4fastener '23a passes and also having a rlipgripping firmly down upon the top .of the base flange. These keepersVserve by abutting substantially against the extreme edge of the' baseflange to prevent'lateral movement or looseness of i the rails yas wellasto prevent'tiltingof the rails orup or down movement thereof. lItywill thus be seen that all ofthe ties are effectually interlocked withone another through the longitudinal straps, that the straps arereliably secured to each other and to the ties, and that the rails arereliably anchored to the tie plates constituting a part of or otherwisesecured to the truss structure. It is also to be noted that the diagonalportions of the straps or the parts deflected toward each other at orabout the centers of the ties, being very strongly and firmly securedtogether, afford a very strong and rigid construction, reliablypreventing all track deflection as well as tendency for individual tiesto be dam-aged or displaced. By the provision of the special fastener 25n the rails and tie plates may be so secured or clamped .together thatany tie may be removed or replaced without disturbing the connectionbetween the rails and the tie plates.

I claim:

1. In a railway track truss, the combination with -a series of ties, ofcontinuous lon` gitudinal strap members embracing all of saidfties, saidstrap members lying one above the other, and means securing the strapsto each other between the ties.

2. In a railway track truss, the combination with a series of ties, of apair of longitudinal continuous strap members embracing the ties anddeflected between the ties toward the horizontal plane ofthe centers ofthe ties, and means rto lock the deected portions of the 'strapstogether.

'3. In a railway track truss, the combination with a series of spacedties, of a continuous strap lying upon the upper faces of a'll oftheties, means to secure the strap to the ities, a continuous strapextending beneath all of the' ties, and means connecting thoseportionsof the straps between adjacent ties together.

v4. In a railwayftracktruss, the combination witha series of spacedties, of a continuous strapmember lying on top of all of theties, asecond strap extending beneath all of the ties, said second strap beingdeflected upwardlybetween the ties to meet the first mentioned strap,and fastening means interlocking 'the meeting portions of the strapsstrongly and-rigidly together.

5.'I n arailway track truss, the combination with a series of spacedties, of a continuous truss strap lying over all of the ties, means tofasten a rail directly upon said strap and `to the ties beneath, trussmeans extending along beneath the ties and directly below the strapaforesaid, and means to anchor said last mentioned truss means to thoseportions of the strap between the ties.

6. In a railway track truss, the combination with a series ofties and arail extending longitudinally across the same, of a pair of continuousstraps located one directly above and the other directly below the tiesand one strap being directly below the other, anchoring means for theupper strap constituting tie plates upon which the rail is supported,and means to anchor directly together the two portions of the strapsbetween adjacent ties.

7. In a railway track truss, the combination with a series of cross tiesand a rail extending across the same, of a continuous truss structurecomprising a pair of coperating straps embracing all of the ties beneaththe rail, and meansA to anchor the straps to the ties and to each other.

8. In a railway track truss, the combination with a series of spacedties and a rail extending longitudinally across the same, of a pair ofcontinuous straps extending from each tie to the next and spanning thespaces between them, said spanning portions of the straps beingdeflected to meet each other midway between the ties, and means toanchor said deflected portions of the straps togethcr.

9. In a railway track truss, the combinatipn with a series of ties and arail above the same, of a pair of continuous coextensive strap membersembracing all of the ties beneath the rail, portions of both strapsbetween adjacent ties being inclined, and means to anchor the straps andthe rail to the ties.

10. In a railway track truss, the combination with a series of ties, ofa pair of strap members embracing all of said ties, one strap lyingabove all of the ties of the series and the other strap lying below thesame, and locking means from one strap to the other in the space betweenthe ties.

11. In a railway track truss, the combination with a series of ties, ofa continuous truss strap lying over all the ties of the series, means tofasten said strap to the ties, a rail supported upon the strap, means tofasten the rail in place upon the strap, truss means extending beneaththe ties below the strap, and fastening means for the last mentionedtruss means.

l2. The combination with a series of cross ties and a rail extendingacross the same, of a continuous truss structure comprising a pair ofcoextensive cooperating straps embracing said ties beneath the rail, andmeans to secure said truss structure to the ties.

DAVID FINKELSTEIN.

lopes of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents. Washington. JD.

